“There’s no doubt about it, there’s no doubt about it at all,” Namath said Tuesday night at the United Way of NYC's Gridiron Gala. “At this point, certainly. And Mark’s going to get better.
He’s going into his fourth year. Golly, I remember a team that won a championship with a quarterback in his fourth year. I hope it happens again.”

Namath, of course, referred to the Super Bowl III championship he won for the Jets in his fourth pro season. He was in attendance last night as Jets right guard Brandon Moore and Giants right guard Chris Snee were honored as “Hometown Heroes” for their community service.

Namath was originally publicly critical of the Jets’ trade for Tebow in March, saying on ESPN Radio at the time that he was baffled and accusing the team of trying to “grab headlines.” But a few weeks later, he seems to have warmed to the acquisition.

He believes the balance between the two players can work, citing his respect for new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano. His initial skepticism stemmed from the fact that teams that use Wildcat packages like Tebow is expected to run generally have questions at the quarterback position. But he is confident the Jets “have something up their sleeve” and that Tebow will be a positive addition.

“I’m a big Mark Sanchez fan. I’ve also been a Tebow fan since his freshman year at Florida,” Namath said. “When draft day came up, I said, ‘Somebody’s got to draft this kid,’ because he’s only positive for the team, for anybody, whatever work he does. He’s going to bring a lot of positive vibes and effort, and it’s a plus.”

But he added, “How it works out, I don’t know. That remains to be seen.”

Namath’s belief in Sanchez’s skills is strong enough that he said he’d be “tickled to death” if he were in Sanchez’s position. He explained that Sanchez knows he’s the better quarterback, and his attitude should be, “bring on the competition.”

But he also admitted that the situation could get sticky at times, in terms of how Sanchez responds.

“That’s going be sensitive; that’s going to be tough,” Namath said. “We’ll wait and see what’s happening. Of course, when things aren’t going well, we’re a little bit touchy, and it’s easy to get upset with some things, some things can get on your nerves. As a quarterback, I’d like to take every snap in practice that I can get. It’s going to remain to be seen how many snaps, how they share the snaps in practice come regular-season time.”

Namath’s criticisms of the Jets in recent years have strained his relationship with the team. He said he’s working on patching up the relationship, but it’s still tenuous. He’s not sure if he’ll be at training camp at Cortland.

“It’s rough, none of us like to be critiqued or criticized in a negative way,” Namath said. “It gets bent sometimes. I don’t like feeling the vibes that I get back whenever I cross (owner) Woody (Johnson’s) path. (Coach) Rex (Ryan) and I have been getting along well when we bump into each other, but I know there’s an underlying sensitivity there that the Jets have.”

Notes: The Giants will receive their Super Bowl rings Wednesday at Tiffany & Co. Snee said he’ll wear both his Super Bowl XLII and XLVI rings for the event. “I’m excited. It’s just as special and just has a little bit more color in it,” he said of the new ring. ... The Gridiron Gala has raised $22 million for at-risk youth in the 19 years it has partnered with the Jets and Giants.